Pallet labels, retailer codes and use by dates: why labelling eats a morning a week
Ask a dispatch team in a food business what they would fix first and labelling comes up more often than anything else. Not the printer. The printer is fine. It is everything that has to be looked up before the print button is pressed.
What a single pallet needs
For one pallet going to one retailer's depot a dispatch operative typically needs:
- The retailer's own product code, which is not your code.
- The retailer's description, in their format and length.
- The use by or best before date in their date format.
- Case count, and for variable weight product, the actual weight.
- The batch or lot reference, which has to match the traceability record.
- An SSCC or pallet ID if the retailer requires GS1 labelling, and the barcode that goes with it.
- Sometimes a delivery slot reference or PO number as well.
Now multiply by the number of retailers, and by the fact that the same product ships to three of them in one morning.
Where the errors come from
The information exists. It is in the retailer's supplier manual, in a spreadsheet of codes, in the order email, and in the batch record. The dispatch person is joining four sources by eye, on a cold floor, against a collection time.
The failures are predictable:
- The wrong retailer code on a correct product. The depot rejects the pallet or, worse, accepts it and disputes the invoice weeks later.
- Date format mismatches. DD/MM against MM/DD, or a best before where a use by was required.
- Weights typed from a scale display, then typed again onto the delivery docket, then typed again into the invoice.
Every one of those is a phone call, a credit note or a rejected delivery, and none of them appear on a report anywhere.
What "from the order" means
The labelling problem is really an information problem. If the order already knows the customer, the customer already knows their codes and date rules, and the batch already knows its weight, the label is just a print of what the system already holds.
That is the approach in Keystone, where pallet labels, dispatch notes and certificates of analysis come from the same order and batch record. Nobody types a retailer code on the floor.
Where to go next
FAQ
Do Irish retailers require GS1 pallet labels?
The larger multiples and their distribution centres generally do, typically an SSCC on a GS1-128 label with product, date and quantity. Requirements differ by retailer and are set out in each supplier manual. Smaller independents often do not.
Can the label be produced automatically from the order?
Yes, if the system that holds the order also holds the customer's codes, date rules and the batch weight. The label becomes a print of existing information. If those live in separate files the label is a manual lookup, and that is where errors come from.
Is this a labelling software problem?
Usually not. Label design software is fine at printing. The cost is in gathering the data before printing. Fixing the source of the information removes most of the work and nearly all of the errors.